Why Half Of Brooklyn Hates The New Barclay's centre Stadium

This fall, the Nets will call the billion-dollar Barclays centre home and Brooklyn will have a pro sports team for the first time since 1957. Basketball fever is abuzz in the borough, but not all Brooklynites are thrilled about how the behemoth structure is going to change the landscape and skyline across the East River.Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) is one of the most vocal activist groups fighting not just the Barclays centre, but the entire “Atlantic Yards” development throughout Park Slope and Prospect Heights. They’re not alone: Curbed New York took to the streets to ask people what they thought of the new stadium, and not all were in awe of it.

Here’s some of the reasons why people loathe the Barclays centre:

The entire $4 billion project would use $1.6 billion in public funding.

Oppenents claim that the project would abuse the state’s power of eminent domain — “taking private property from one owner to give to a private entity for a private use, instead of a public use,” according to the DDDB. In fact, in a brief filed with the New York State Court of Appeals, a handful of opponents of the project claim as many as 2,929 could be “indirectly” displaced.

Locals fear the stadium will bring an influx of traffic and tourists, threatening the world-famous Brooklyn atmosphere. The newly revamped Atlantic Station and the entire Atlantic Yards project could create similar problems. Just look at the congestion around Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.

Astronomical housing prices in Manhattan have pushed young professionals and creatives into Brooklyn. Locals fear that the project will drive up housing prices and extinguish these cultural hubs. Meanwhile some businesses in the area have already closed shop due to rising prices.

A lot of residents think it’s ugly, and some go as far as calling the Barclays centre an “eyesore.” The facade of the building is covered in Cor-10 — a type of weathering steel. While it is popular among architects, it can look “unfinished,” and rusty. It also tends to drip relatively early compared to other types of steel, and leaves a rusty residue on the pavement below. It could get “really funky looking” a materials expert at the architecture firm Jan Hord Pokorny Associates told the NYTimes.

The stadium’s presence could also help bring patrons and additional business to restaurants, bars, and shops in the area and indeed the whole city. Meanwhile plenty people and businesses would cash in on rising rents in the area.